Duke Wu of Qin (, died 678 BC) was from 697 to 678 BC the tenth ruler of the

Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

state of Qin that eventually united China to become the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

. His ancestral name was Ying (), and Duke Wu was his

posthumous title A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments o ...

Accession to the throne

Duke Wu was the eldest son and the crown prince of Duke Xian of Qin. However, when Duke Xian died in 704 BC at the age of 21, the ministers Fuji (弗忌) and Sanfu (三父) deposed Duke Wu and installed his younger half-brother Chuzi on the throne. Six years later, in 698 BC Sanfu and Fuji assassinated Chuzi and put Duke Wu, the original crown prince, on the throne.

Reign

In 697 BC, the first year of Duke Wu's reign, Qin attacked the Pengxi tribe (彭戏氏) of the Rong people and the Qin army advanced east to

Mount Hua Mount Hua () is a mountain located near the city of Huayin in Shaanxi Province, about east of Xi'an. It is the "Western Mountain" of the Five Great Mountains of China and has a long history of religious significance. Originally classified as ...

. In 695 BC, Duke Wu executed Sanfu, Fuji, and their clans for the crime of murdering Chuzi. In 688 BC, he attacked the Rong people to the west, establishing counties in the former Rong territories of Gui (邽, in present-day

Tianshui Tianshui is the second-largest city in Gansu Province, China. The city is located in the southeast of the province, along the upper reaches of the Wei River and at the boundary of the Loess Plateau and the Qinling Mountains. As of the 2020 ce ...

, Gansu) and Ji (冀, in present-day Gangu, Gansu). The following year, he established the counties of Du (杜, in present-day

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

) and Zheng (郑, in present-day

Hua County, Shaanxi Huazhou District (), formerly Hua County or Huaxian (), is a district of Weinan, Shaanxi province, China. It was upgraded from a county to a district in 2015. The district spans an area of , and has a population of about 324,300 as of 2012. Hi ...

) in the east, and conquered the minor state of Xiao Guo.

Death and succession

After 20 years of reign, Duke Wu died in 678 BC and was buried in Yong (in present-day Fengxiang, Shaanxi). Although Duke Wu had a son named Bai (白), he was succeeded by his younger brother

Duke De of Qin Duke De of Qin (, 710–676 BC) was from 677 to 676 BC the eleventh ruler of the Zhou Dynasty state of Qin that eventually united China to become the Qin Dynasty. His ancestral name was Ying (), and Duke De was his posthumous title. Duke De was ...

as ruler of Qin. Duke De moved the Qin capital to Yong, while Prince Bai was enfeoffed at the old capital Pingyang.

Human sacrifice

According to Sima Qian, Duke Wu was the ruler who started the practice of funeral

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

in the state of Qin. When he died in 678 BC he had 66 people buried with him. The later ruler Duke Mu, who died in 621 BC, had 177 people buried with him, including several senior government officials. This practice would continue for almost three centuries until Duke Xian (Shixi) banned it in 384 BC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu of Qin, Duke Year of birth unknown Rulers of Qin 7th-century BC Chinese monarchs 678 BC deaths